You know your in africa when...



Hadada Ibis



I awake in the B&B in Johannesburg, South Africa after a long day and night of flying.  I am refreshed and ready to head back to the airport and to my final destination of Kruger National Park.  But so far it feels like only a dream that I am in Africa as seemingly only yesterday I was in my office working.  As I sit down for a cup of coffee at the table on a covered outdoor patio, I hear the hadada ibis; a bird said to be afraid of flying thus he screams while he is soaring a loud shriek and at this moment it is the most beautiful shriek I can wish to hear because it means I am back in Africa and I take a deep breath and smile.



The first indication I have arrived back on this beautiful continent is always the birds sitting in the distinctly African trees.  I was never a bird watcher prior to Africa but one can't help be amazed by the colorful and exotic array of feathered friends here.  Which ones are my favorites, you might ask?  Is it the yellow billed hornbill that comically hops around your picnic lunch hoping for a handout?  Or maybe the hoopoe with his wonderful black tipped head crest who always seems to be hurriedly pecking at the ground for his next meal as if starvation is just around the tree trunk?  The distinct call of the fish eagle puts him in the running along with the beauty of the many kingfishers; giant, malachite and pied. 


Hoopoe



But I have to say the one I do enjoy the most is the marabou stork.  I am not sure why but they always bring joy when I see them with their gangly appearance.  They are huge; many getting as much as five feet tall weighing as much as twenty pounds and many would say they are quite ugly.  Ugly because they have bare heads and necks - no feathers!  Their beaks seem to be speckled with ugly spots. To me though, the marabou represents Africa and whether this giant bird is awkwardly perched in a tree, digging in a carcass for dinner or walking along the path minding his own business, he, along with all of the other great birds I see before me when I am here, are Africa!



The Gangly Marabou Stork